Unless you’re a plastics guy, you may not know this, but one of Moldflow’s key differentiators is its material testing laboratories. Plastics are tricky, with fibers and layers and temperatures and shrinkage rates … designing a mold that can fill and...

I wrote in September about GE’s strategy to acquire German company SLM, maker of 3D printing machines, as part of an effort to build a $1 billion additive manufacturing business by 2020. It appears that Elliot Management (which you may remember as a long-time...

Ahh, Fall! Here in the Northern hemisphere, a time of cooler temperatures, changing foliage and … PLMish conferences. Analyst events, user conferences, product launches — it’s a busy time in our little world. In order to keep up with it all,...

General Electric, the global megacorp that includes aircraft engines in its huge manufacturing portfolio, announced today that it is acquiring two European 3D printing companies for a total of $1.4 billion, making ever more real its vision to supply more complex...

There’s hope in the world of 3D printers! Stratasys announced earnings just now and provided guidance for 2016 that looks pretty good. Not awesome, mind you, but: Total revenue for Q4 was $173 million, down 20% from a year ago Citing weak demand from industrial...

3D Systems has been battered lately, as the consumer market for 3D printing hasn’t developed the way the company envisioned. A management shakeup, exiting the Cube businesses — it’s been a tough six months. Then, this morning, the news that Q4...

Happy New Year! May 2016 bring you nothing but happiness, health and prosperity! It’s starting the way 2015 ended: with news of acquisitions and divestitures. Nemetschek says that it has concluded its acquisition of all of the shares of Solibri. You may remember...

By any measure, Autodesk University is big. 800+ sessions. 10,000 attendees in Las Vegas and a lot more watching the web-streamed sessions from home, during and after the event. The Venetian and Palazzo complex filled to overflowing with design techies of all sorts,...

Late yesterday, Stratasys announced that Q3 results would be well below expectations, coming in at around $167 million (versus earlier guidance of $155 million to $190 million), with a GAAP net loss of $155 million to $190 million that’s largely due to asset...

Not a dull week — not at all. Autodesk just stepped up its game in 3D printing by saying it intends to acquire netfabb, a German software company, and by making a strategic investment in netfabb’s parent company, FIT Technology. netfabb makes software that...